Oklahoma QB seeking consistency

Trevor Knight created a monster with his dominant Sugar Bowl performance.

As a redshirt freshman, he passed for 348 yards and four touchdowns and was the MVP in Oklahoma’s 45-31 upset victory over Alabama in January. He was rewarded with the unquestioned starting job and a newfound fame that gave him increased speaking opportunities and lifted his Twitter following to more than 25,000.

With those spoils comes a new level of pressure. Oklahoma’s already rabid fans are fired up. The Sooners are expected to be in the mix for the national title, and they face a bright spotlight with a quarterback who has had one dominant game in his career. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said the key is for Knight to duplicate that kind of performance, starting Aug. 30 against Louisiana Tech.

“It all has to keep happening,” Stoops said Saturday during Oklahoma’s Media Day. “I think he’ll learn and grow off of what he did last year, not just in the Sugar Bowl, but in particular, in the last couple of games — the Kansas State game, the Oklahoma State game away from home and how he played well in those games, and now he’ll just learn more from it.”

Knight understands that most people are looking only at his breakout performance in New Orleans and expecting more of the same.

“I expect it every game too,” he said. “I actually want to build on that. That’s kind of the baseline. That’s the best I’ve played, and I want to build on top of that. It’s a confidence booster for me and obviously, there will be ups and downs during the season, but you want everything to go well and you want to play well.”

YEAR TWO: North Carolina State opened its second training camp under Dave Doeren with a quarterback in place this time.

The Wolfpack also has a year of experience in Doeren’s system. That puts the team on better footing while trying to improve on last season’s struggles.

“I thought the guys came out with a great attitude,” Doeren said. “Excited about the leadership, something the older guys showed. You can see where we left off in the spring.”

N.C. State is settled at quarterback with Florida transfer Jacoby Brissett making his debut this fall. The Wolfpack had injuries and young players pressed into duty last season, when they won only three games and posted the first winless Atlantic Coast Conference record since 1959.